


I Don't Want To Feel The Emptiness

by Sunshinecackle



Series: 8 Days Of Axel 2020 [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Demyx is Anxious about Vexen’s Death, Demyx was in Thebes and went to Delphi for the beach, Gay, M/M, Post CoM but before II, Slash, Vague mentions of Aquaphobia, Yaoi, canon character death, mlm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24886900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunshinecackle/pseuds/Sunshinecackle
Summary: Collecting Demyx wasn’t all fun and games like it should have been.
Relationships: Axel/Demyx (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: 8 Days Of Axel 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1800820
Kudos: 4





	I Don't Want To Feel The Emptiness

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, it’s me again! Just thought I ought to say, if you want vague updates and to talk to me more, I have Twitter and Tumblr, too! Twitter is Sunshinecackle, and Tumblr is Writteninsunshine! I also have a writing Discord that is currently pretty dead. xD I can PM it to people who want it on FFN, for everyone else, it’s here: https://discord.gg/FyaWw25
> 
> So, originally this fic was titled Sunset Strip, and as I was writing it… Well, the song by Cake was stuck in my head but I kept going to the next line, I Don’t Want To Feel The Emptiness. We’ll see if it changes again or not before I post it.
> 
> Anyway, so, I’m finally trying to write again. I was late to the party for the 8 Days of Axel event, but I’m joining it anyway. This is day 2, late, naturally. I’m working on day 3 for today as soon as I finish editing this and getting it posted. I’m gonna try and catch up, at the very least. I hope you guys enjoy it!

Always trust Demyx to find a beach anywhere he went and spend his entire day staring longingly into the waves. Axel had been sent to find him, considering he _should_ have checked in with Saïx by now, and simply hadn’t shown up. It seemed the redhead was always going off to find someone, to fetch someone, to _eliminate_ someone. At least, this time, Demyx just needed to be plucked from the warm sunset sands of the beach in Delphi, and not killed. While it was a solid day or so away from Thebes, it didn’t take nearly as long to get there thanks to the Corridors of Darkness.

Stepping out of the swirling, lapping darkness aiming to find a strip of skin, Axel reached up to pluck his hood from the top of his head, guiding it down to rest on his shoulders. Just as he suspected, Demyx sat on the pristine white sand, hood down, strumming away at his sitar, drawing songs from it he’d never heard before. He hummed here and there, as though he might let his voice rise with the music, but it never came. Axel was used to watching Demyx play but now wasn’t the time; Even if he figured Saïx would much rather sit and listen just the same as he did. 

As he finally strode over, Demyx looked up from where his eyes melted into the ocean, shaken from his thoughts by the tinkling of metal on Axel’s coat. A warm, easy smile worked over Demyx’s lips as he peered up at him, teal meeting green for a split second before Axel looked away.

“What’s up, Axe?” Demyx asked, his fingers never once leaving the strings of his sitar, “Not often you come to check me out when I’m--” Those eyes went wide and his jaw went slack for a split second, then he jolted forward and his sitar dissipated into a puddle in his lap. “Working.” 

“Yeah, man, you forget about something?” Axel couldn’t help but chuckle under his breath, shaking out his mane as he turned his eyes up to the sunset. “Saïx said something about a report on Hades?”

“I-- I totally, _definitely_ did that.” Demyx pointed towards the sky, his hands moving at a hundred miles per hour as he tried his best to write the report in the air with all of the words falling out of his mouth. Axel rose a brow at him, smirk in place as he listened to the stuttering, half-thought-out rearranged dictionary trying to explain what Demyx had been up to until Axel finally held up a hand.

“That’s between you and Saïx, Dem. For now,” He glanced out over the water, saw the reflections of oranges, pinks and blues on the slowly lapping surface, and a soft, tender smile overcame his face, “Let’s just watch the sunset. I’ll take the fall for the next ten minutes.” Ten minutes, indeed.

The instant switch being flipped from panic to relaxation could have made a lesser man’s head spin, but Demyx took it in such stride that Axel got the emotional whiplash, instead. Hands behind him to rest in the soft, warm sand, Demyx leaned his weight on them and shifted his legs out in front of him, absently nodding beside himself. He hoped Axel would join him; It had been a while since the two of them had just vegetated together.

“Then get down here and sit with me.” His voice was melodic in a way that lulled even Axel into a sense of safety, and he settled in beside the other despite how close they were to the lapping waves. Water made him anxious sometimes, but Demyx’s presence definitely made things seem less threatening. Much as Demyx could be a one-man party, he knew when to exude calm in waves. Saïx always got to see the more relaxed side of Demyx, though the blond was careful to try and hide the side of him that was so relaxed he got Roxas to do most of his work for him. Not that he thought Saïx was stupid enough to think he didn’t do it.

Axel brought one knee up, the other leg straight out in front of him, as he pressed one hand behind him into the sand and the other elbow pressed into his knee. Chin in his hand, he hummed a little.

“Man, I’d kill for some sea salt ice cream right about now.” He sighed dreamily, eyes on the sky as it blossomed from red to blue in a rapidly melting display of light and color. 

“Kill?” Demyx laughed softly, shaking his head as he let it hang back between his shoulders for a second, “That’s a little extreme, don’t you think?” Was it easy to see his thinly veiled anxiety? Probably. Even _Roxas_ would have been able to see the uncomfortable line his shoulders had become.

“Aw, c’mon, Dem, I’d never--” But how could Demyx know that? After what had happened with Vexen, everyone had started treating him a little (or a lot) differently. Brows drawing in and his good mood ruined, Axel pursed his lips, “I couldn’t do that to you.”

“Because you can’t light water on fire or because you…” _Care_. The word died on Demyx’s lips, and the two men simply stared at the sky for another minute or two in uneasy silence. Demyx wished he hadn’t opened his big, fat mouth, and Axel’s desire for ice cream went beyond his simply being accustomed to getting it every evening. It would also be a good excuse not to talk to one another, better than simply trying to find anything at all to focus on that wasn’t sitting right beside them.

“Look, Dem, I… What happened with Vexen wasn’t…” Nobody had listened to his side of the story, and now that an opportunity to explain himself had arisen, Axel didn’t have the words. Demyx’s clear anxiety only made him want to change the subject because if the sitarist wanted to run, he would at the drop of a hat. Somehow, he hadn’t, yet, and Axel needed to do something, _anything_ to keep him rooted to his spot.

“Nah, man, it’s--” Demyx turned to look at Axel just in time for the redhead to lean in and kiss his cheek. After a second, the blond turned his head, brushing their lips together softly, just as the last rays of sunshine slipped beneath the horizon. While he was surprised, Axel gently caressed Demyx’s cheek, leaning into the kiss more until he finally pulled back with a little smile. 

“What was that for?” Axel questioned, head tilting slightly as his smile turned into a full-blown smirk.

“I… Miss feeling safe with you.” Demyx muttered, his eyes finding the leather of his coat pressed into his knees, “If it wasn’t… If _Vexen_ wasn’t… _Your_ fault, then it wasn’t. Right?” He still looked flighty, but at least he was glued to the sand, warm and soft as it was beneath him.

“Yeah… Yeah, that sounds about right.” Axel nodded with a little smile, his eyes turning tender and his expression softening considerably, “Don’t worry, Dem, I’d never hurt you.” There was no reason to, and he didn’t think he could if he wanted to.

Their lips joined once more, and they held it until the stars above them twinkled a warning. They were _definitely_ forgetting something. It took an hour of kissing on the beach before Demyx broke it, his eyes wide again.

“We have to go!” He exclaimed, “Didn’t you come to get me for Saïx?”

“Crap--” Axel joined Demyx’s mad scramble to get to his feet, “Yeah, we better head out.”

The Corridor of Darkness could only carry them so fast, and the fact that they both knew they’d be getting chewed out when they got to the end didn’t make them go any faster. Saïx didn’t take too kindly to being kept waiting, if only because the _Superior_ didn’t like to be kept waiting.

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, there we have it, the first piece for the 8 Days Of Axel that I’ve completed. I want to try and get to the next ones, too, and go back and do day one because I was really late. xD Writing these in one day seems to be a bit of an issue but hopefully, today is better for focusing than yesterday was.
> 
> Prompt: 8 Days Of Axel Day 2 Sunsets


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